It was the perfect ending for a star-studded film with a title like Jalso. The English equivalent for Jalso is enjoyment, fun and frolic. And enjoyment, fun and frolic was what were in the air on the last two days’ shooting of the star-studded film last week in Ahmedabad.
The location on the first day — rather, night — was the Akshar cruise on the Sabarmati riverfront of the walled city. To add to the fun element, the entire cast of the Rs. 4 crore film was participating in the song picturisation atop the cruise. The next night, the location shifted to the iconic Atal bridge which connects the West and East parts of the Sabarmati riverfront. On the first night, director Rajiv S. Ruia was working at a frenetic pace because the cruise was available for the shooting only from midnight to the following dawn. Manish Sharma, owner, and Suhag Modi, director of Akshar, made sure that the unit faced no difficulties whatsoever while shooting.
The cool breeze added to the atmosphere of celebration which was actually the setting for the title song that was being picturised. Since the song will come as a post-marriage celebration song, all the actors were in colourful and rich attires, adding to the happy mood. But the joy in producer Sahab Nahta’s heart was also for another reason. For, no less than Gujarati cinema’s superstar, Malhar Thakkar, was making a friendly appearance in the song picturisation that night!
As the stars arrived on the riverfront one after another, the dancers, dressed in red (females) and yellow (males), were seen rehearsing their dance steps for the last two days of shooting on 29th and 30th January, under the direction and watchful eyes of choreographer Radhika Marfatia. The formidable cast of the film has a mix of Gujarati and Hindi film actors. The long list includes Aroona Irani, Dharmesh Vyas, Bhavin Bhanushali, Pooja Joshi, Hemant Pandey, Hiten Tejwani, Gauri Pradhan Tejwani, Hemang Dave, Utsav Naik, Naksh Raaj, Chhaya Vora, Sonali Desai, Morli Patel, Padmesh Pandit, Kurush Deboo, Ishika Shirsat, Preeti Goswami, Hansi Parmar, Jay Patel, Nirav Patel and Ojas Rawal (in special appearance). Milind Gadhvi and Yash Eshwari’s lyrics have been set to tune by Rajesh Sharma, and one must add, the music is a strong point of the family drama. Screenplay and dialogues by Kalp Trivedi, cinematography by Eugene D’Souza, and editing by Parth Bhatt and Komal Verma are the other major credits. The drone camera was operated by Atul Parashar.
Jalso, produced under the banner of Lotus International Films, is being readied for release in May all over Gujarat and Saurashtra.
